


Behind Blue Eyes

by JantoJones



Series: Brief Briefings [56]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8596852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JantoJones/pseuds/JantoJones





	

Blue eyes glared out from behind ugly tinted glasses. Even to the people who knew him, the famed Kuryakin stare could be intimidating. For a classroom full of newly graduated agents, fresh from Survival Island, it made anything Jules Cutter had thrown at them pale into comparison. The thing they couldn't know, and probably never would, was that Illya was usually play-acting.

When he was younger, he'd always found it a useful tool for keeping people at arm's length. When Illya had been a child, and he'd lost his family, the glare had been deployed as a survival technique. Nobody wanted to go near someone who looked as though he would throw a punch at any moment. Every now and then, some boy or other would be brave enough to get close, and that boy would earn the friendship of Illya Kuryakin. All too often though, the friendship would be broken when one of them was taken away to who knew where.

As he got older Kuryakin found that he much preferred his own company anyway. Illya liked being alone, and it annoyed him immensely when people assumed he was lonely. Of course, while studying in Europe, he developed friendships, but those relationships were almost as tenuous as those of childhood. University and Navy friends came and went frequently. When he'd arrived at U.N.C.L.E., Illya had consciously decided to push everyone away; the emotional cost of friendship being too high. He was in a job where you didn't know who would be alive from one day to the next, so forming close relationships had seemed a waste of time. The glare became a fixture, along with a demeanour which had earned him the nickname of 'The ice Prince."

It didn't last. It couldn't, once he was partnered with Napoleon Solo. The American had such an overpowering exuberance and love of life, it was impossible not to get caught up in it. By that time of course, Illya had realised just how useful his frosty character could be in his working life. It often came in handy for threatening enemy agents, even when he was the one being tortured.

When it came to rookie agents, however, it proved to be an essential tool. The eyes promised retribution to anyone who failed to listen to what he had to say. Illya liked to use actual explosive materials when he taught his Advanced Explosives class. Admittedly, they weren't powerful enough to do any harm, but being coated in flour made for a valuable lesson. He never told his new students that the small bombs could go off. With deliberate care, Illya removed his glasses and tucked them into his inside pocket. No longer masked by tinted glass, the true intensity of the icy blue glare was revealed.

Sitting at the back of the classroom, Napoleon Solo watched as his partner played out his little act. He always made time to sit in on the first class a new intake took with his partner. If they could survive that, they'd have no problem with the enemy. Napoleon was possibly the only person who knew Illya well enough to see the emotionally fragile man beneath the steel outer shell. The Russian's upbringing hadn't really allowed for a natural and healthy maturing of his emotions. Occasionally, Solo would swear that the eight year old, who watched his family die, was still looking out from behind those blue eyes.

As Illya removed his glasses, Napoleon had to suppress a smirk of satisfaction at seeing at least three people shiver.


End file.
